


The Long Way Around

by hunters_retreat



Series: Terminator: The Winchester Chronicles [23]
Category: Supernatural, Termintor: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Genre: Crossover, M/M, Multi, Post-Apocalypse, Sex with Metal, Sibling Incest, Uncle/Nephew Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 04:32:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13733211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: “Keep up the good fight, John,” Derek answered with a smile.  “We’ll see you on the other side of time, or the long way home.”





	The Long Way Around

He knew it was coming as soon as the mission was decided.  He knew it and he couldn’t help the ache in his heart or the sinking sensation in his stomach.  As he spoke with his generals, he looked at Sam and Dean and they both looked towards Derek with the knowledge that they were losing him.  When John raised his eyes to his uncle, the man’s eyes were ablaze. 

Derek would be a part of the next mission and nothing John said would be able to stop him.

When the meeting was over, he dismissed the others and waited.

“John…”

“I know, Derek.  I know.  Get packed.”

He couldn’t look at his uncle.  He knew the hope that was in the man’s eyes, as much as he knew the pain that was in his own.

“John, what the hell did you just do?” Dean demanded.

“What I had to.”

“You just sent him into the past, chasing after some idea that he could change things.  It doesn’t work like that,” Sam said.

“I know.  I know exactly what I sent him back to do.”

Dean’s eyes were hard when John looked up and met his gaze, but Sam’s were lit with understanding.  “You remember him.”

“I met Derek Reese for the first time when I was 15.”

“Jesus, John,” Dean barked out.

“And you’re sending him back now.  What’s going to happen?”

“Don’t.”

They all turned to look to the door where Derek walked in, his bag over his shoulder. 

“Don’t tell me what you think is going to happen.”

“When?” Dean asked as he looked at John. 

“As soon as the others are ready to go.”

“No, I mean when are you sending him back to?”

“2007.”

“Alright.”  Dean looked around for a second before he found a scrap of paper to write on.  He scribed something on it for a second, then handed the scrap to Derek. 

“Memorize this.  You get to 2007 and you find us.  We’ll already be headed towards hell, but you call that phone number.  If you can’t get us, you send something to that PO Box and we’ll find a way to get to you.  You’ll have to convince us that you know who we are.”

“Tell us you know I’m psychic and that Dean sold his soul.”

“What?” Derek asked.

“Just start with that and it’ll get you in the door.  After that, you’re on your own to convince Dean of the truth.  Once you convince him of that, we’ll be able to help you as much as we can.”

Derek looked at the paper and the man nodded.  “Thank you.  At least there will be a familiar face back there, right?”

Sam pulled Derek close and held him a little tighter than he probably should but no one was going to call him out on it.  Dean did the same.  There was no time for anything else.  No time for the good bye that Derek deserved from them.

“John,” Derek said softly.  John couldn’t help but look in his uncle’s eyes then. 

“Take care of yourself Derek.”

“I’ll find you, back there.”

“That’s not your mission, Derek.”

“Maybe not, but you don’t think I’m really gonna ignore the fact that you’re there, do you?”

John gave a small laugh.  “No, I guess not.  Take it easy on me back then.  I’m still … young.”

“John Connor, fragile?”

“John Baum,” he corrected.  And he had already changed things, hadn’t he?  Giving Derek his name, letting the Winchesters give him a way to find them in the past? 

Maybe it wouldn’t happen the way he remembered.  Maybe he wasn’t sending his uncle, his lover, the man he loved, off to die for him.

Maybe, they’d find a way to change the past after all.

There was a knock on the door and it opened to the men that would go back in time and try to stop the war they were fighting.  John knew it was a slim chance, but they had to try.  The human race deserved a chance to right their wrongs.

There was no time to say anything else now.  Instead he stood taller and nodded to the other men.  “We’ll meet you there in a moment.”

The least he could do was to see them off at the machine.  He needed this one last minute though.  As the door closed behind them, Derek had already moved, his hand pulling John closer.

“This isn’t goodbye,” Derek said softly against his lips.  “I’ll see you on the other side of time, alright?”

John nodded.  “Take care of yourself back there, Derek.  I want you to walk through that damn door someday, telling us you came the long way back to us.”

Derek kissed him then, hard and demanding and John yielded to him completely.  He pulled at Derek hard enough to bruise, hard enough that even time couldn’t erase the marks on him.  When Derek finally pulled back, he let out a deep breath.

“I love you, Johnnie.  Be safe.”  He looked at Sam and Dean before John could reply.  “You boys take care of him for me.  And I’ll see you on the other side as well.”

Then he was out the door.

John held himself tall as he walked out and down the hallway, the Winchester brothers at his back.  John was about to lose the last family he had alive, but he still had them at least.  What was it Dean said?  Family doesn’t end in blood?  Well, the John Baum and Winchesters in the past were about to meet a man who would be family, even if they were losing him now.  And John still had the brothers as his family here.

It didn’t make him feel better as he watched Derek climb onto the platform for the time machine, but he wasn’t alone.

“Good luck.  We’re counting on you to give us a better future.  Go with the hope of all of humanity,” John called to the men.

“Keep up the good fight, John,” Derek answered with a smile.  “We’ll see you on the other side of time, or the long way home.”

And with those words, the machine did as it was programmed and Derek was gone.

John held himself upright, his back straight and his head high as he left a moment later.  He made it back to the conference room and was barely through before his legs gave out.  Sam was already there to catch him while Dean secured the door.  John let go of his fears, his loss, his grief and Sam held him long into the dark night.

 

***

 

“Is this Dean Winchester?”

The voice on the phone was unfamiliar but Dean looked around at Sam as he finished paying for their breakfast at the diner.  They were a few hours outside of Chicago with no clear case at the moment, except Sam’s never ending research to try to get Dean out of his deal. 

“You got him.  What can I do for you?”

“You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.”

Dean let out a laugh because that at least was a good way to start.  “You’d be surprised how often I hear that and yet people still call.”

“My name is Derek Reese.  You don’t know me now, but you used to.  You will.  In the future….”

**Author's Note:**

> And this is where I say good bye to my beloved Winchester Chronicles. I don't know that I won't throw in a few timestamps at some point, but I think this is a good place to leave the story. It's up to you to decide how Derek going back to the past and meeting up with Sam and Dean and John will change the world that John remembered. To anyone reading, thanks for coming along on this ride that started out as little more than comment fic and became a bite more :P


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